Something Surprising happened...in January

I always seem to apologize every time I start to post to this blog. It has been far too long and for that, I'm sorry.

Things are going good over here. Just when we feel we have figured out and perfected a new stage in Miss A's life, a new stage emerges. This time...the limit-testing, boundary pushing, "No" saying, 2.5 year old stage, and she is really good at being 2.5.

She is extremely verbal, so of course everything I tell her, she likes to say it back to me. At least she hears me, but does she listen...sometimes. Overall, she is a great kid, and excellent in public. She just likes to save the tantrums for us in the privacy of our home. I can handle that if the trade off is a well behaved 2.5 year old at a restaurant.

We have had great progress with the "Time Timer" app on my phone to motivate her to put her toys away. I think the having a visual time countdown helps. She loves it.

She also loves going to park and sliding on the slide and swinging on the swings. She is an outdoor girl, which at this point I need to learn to like since I'm not very outdoorsy. There are many great things about her, and not enough room to write them all here. One such accomplishment of hers that I am very proud of is that she is potty-trained. WOOT!!!

Here she is enjoying some Mac n' Cheese

 

The last time I posted, I talked about how I overheard a woman discuss with her friend how much she resented her sister-in-law only wanting one child. She flippantly talked about how wrong it was for a child to not have a sibling, and that she would never do that to her child. I say 'flippant' because this young naïve girl assumed she would be fertile enough to have multiple children.

I also discussed how much Michael and I were one and done; the contentment we felt having one child was enough; how much a pregnancy was welcomed, but unlikely.

Well...in January I was late. Not so much a surprise, given our history of anovulatory cycles, polycystic ovaries, and one tube. I knew I should test, but I kept putting it off, and putting it off, and putting it off.

I finally took the stupid test and wouldn't you know, it says, "PREGNANT". I started crying and called Michael immediately. We had never had a HPT that was positive. I stupidly asked him what I do now. He told me to call the doctor.

We had an appointment the following week. In the meantime I called and requested for an order to check HCG levels. It was 53244. The first ultrasound dated the baby at 6 weeks 5 days, EDD September 12, 2015.

So far every ultrasound and blood test I have had has come out normal. We are expecting a boy.

Here he is at 19 weeks.

 

I'm still living one day, one week at a time. I know that there are things that I need to plan ahead for, so I have made a wish list of things we need for him. A part of me is still very cautiously optimistic. We have a name picked out, but are NOT telling anyone. For now we just refer to him as Star-lord or The Boy.

 

I have no idea how to prepare a toddler for a new sibling, so any advice is appreciated. I have some books in mind to read to her. She likes to kiss my tummy.

 

The Boy does love to kick, often really late at night and really early in the morning. He will stop kicking the moment Michael puts his hand on my tummy. He already is a tease.

 

To say that this is all so surreal is an understatement. I went from being angry (yes, I was angry), to ambivalent, to finally excited. Even at 26 weeks, I still can't believe this is happening. I feel so grateful for this experience and opportunity to add to our family.

 

We reach the 3rd trimester in 2 weeks. I can't believe this is almost over.





It's Been Awhile

Yes, I still have a blog.

Yes, I still have things I would like to say.

Yes, I will start writing in it again.

Let's start with an update.

The last time I wrote, Miss A was 10 months old and just started crawling. Well shortly after that post she also started teething.

In October we celebrated Miss A's first birthday. It was a great day, though she didn't really enjoy her cake.

For a few months prior she was struggling to eat table food and finger foods. Her tongue would push out the food instead of pushing it around and back. She loved Cheerios, but couldn't eat them, just push them out.

At her one year wellness appointment we voiced our concern to her Pediatrician. She referred us to an Occupational Therapist. Miss A responded quickly to therapy. We learned it wasn't a taste or texture issue, but an Oral Motor delay and disinterest in food. Once those issues were resolved, mealtime greatly improved.

In December we moved into a house. No more apartment living for us!

In January, she started walking. One time while watching Figure Skating she took her first steps. It was awesome to watch. She took more steps while watching Rock of Ages bopping and stepping to the Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive".

We survived our first family Tummy bug in February. Miss A bounced back within the day. I, on the other hand, took 3 days to recover, I can no longer eat sweet potato fries and I'm no longer "vomit-free since '85" (but "vomit-free since 2014 has a nice ring to it).

In March Miss A's adoption was finalized.

Right now at 21 months, Miss A is about 33 in tall and wears 12-18 months clothes. She is our petite flower. She talks non-stop, loves books, Minnie Mouse, and Hello Kitty, and if I let her, she would eat "Cado" (avocado) with every meal.

Every day, and week she surprises us with all the new things she wants to do. She wants bigger bites of food, she wants to go up and down the stairs. She doesn't want us to carry her anymore, though this means she MUST hold Daddy or Mommy's hand.

She is growing up fast. I hate it, but I also love it.

Freezing Time

I realize with this blog, I haven't really been writing about A. I should be, this blog was created to document our journey to become parents...her parents.

...and what a ride it has been.

She is ten months old now, crawling, pulling up to a kneeling position, vocalizing, exploring and terrorizing the cats.

I already miss the days when she would only communicate to us in raspberries.

"She will never be this age again," Michael said, one night after we put her to bed.

My heart sank, because I knew he was right. She would never be, 4 months, 6 months, 8 months old again. As much as I loved each and every stage of her infancy (I could do without the 4 month sleep regression). I'm excited about the new stages of her life that are yet to come, and the learning curve in parenting her that comes with every stage.

I still feel like I don't know what the heck I'm doing, though Michael and my mom tell me I'm a good mother. I probably shouldn't let her play underneath her Exersaucer, but she is quiet and happy, so why bother her. I probably shouldn't let her have that unopened, sealed container of tic-tacs, but the container is sealed, I'm watching her and she likes the noise it makes. I probably shouldn't let her take out the Disney VHS tapes on the bottom shelf, but she's happy.

She really is a very happy, easy-going baby - so much that I didn't even know she was teething. Because why would she show the obvious signs of teething (no excessive drool, not really fussy, appetite unchanged). The only out of the ordinary sign - night wakings.

In May, we took her to Walt Disney World - two flights, three time zones, different sleep environment and she did wonderfully. People on the plane were commenting that they didn't even know she was in their section.

She is constantly surprising us with her go-with-the-flow attitude. Especially the 15 hour road trip we took in July to visit Michael's family and introduce her to her cousins.  But maybe this easy going attitude we have is rubbing off on her? Or maybe she just likes to travel?

My nephews, T and K meeting Miss A for the first time.

Can I honestly admit that she was worth the wait? Yes, I can. Though this admission is still hard for me. Mostly because the waiting and the heartache sucked, oftentimes reducing me to a blubbering, crying mess. Many times it felt like ache to have a child would never end.

I remember pleading with God for an end to the journey, the struggle, and pain. Just give me an ending, and answer, God: Are we meant to be parents to a baby, or parents to college students? Because I was so tired of being stuck in the middle for so long.

I know she is not our ending. In fact she is a new beginning and we are already 10 months into that beginning and it is going by so much faster than I anticipated. There are times when I wish I could freeze time, so I could savor each stage of her life at my pace. Because I know one day I'll blink and she will going off to college.